Chain wrench.



W. H. ONEIL.

CHAIN WRENGH.

APPLIOATION FILED AUG. 5, 1912.

Patented Feb. 10, 1914.

COLUMBIA FLANOGRAPH CO-,\VASH1NGTON. D. c,

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VIILLIAM H. ONEIL, OF LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, ASSIGNGB OF ONE-HALF T 0 EAST SIDE MACHINE 00., OF LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, A FIRM.

CHAIN WRENCH.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that 1, WILLIAM HENRY ONEIL, a citizen of the United States, residing at Los Angeles, in the county of Los Angeles and State of California, have invented a new and useful Chain Trench, of which the following is a specification.

An object of this invention is to provide a chain wrench which will not crush, cut or injure the pipe to be turned and which is easily applied to and removed from such pipe; which will easily slip in one direction but will not slip in the other direction, and will positively take hold in the other direction without manipulation of the chain and therefore can be operated by the lever alone and with one hand only.

Another object is to so construct the wrench that it can be quickly adjusted to pipes of different sizes throughout a considerable range.

I regard the invention as pioneer in that the wrench chain which is connected to the wrench lever between the arms thereof, is provided with a shoe that is fulcrumed on the short arm of the wrench lever, and is provided with a bit and two pipe engaging portions, which for convenience may be called the toe and the heel. A bit is located between the said toe and the heel in a position intersecting an are passing through them. This location is such as to cause the bit to cut slightly into the pipe or other circular body on which the toe and the heel may simultaneously be brought to bear. The advantage of this construction is that when the grip of the chain is tightened on the pipe the bit cuts into the skin of the pipe and is prevented by the toe and heel of the shoe from cutting in more than the desired amount.

The invention includes the pipe wrench and various parts and combinations of parts more particularly described in the subjoined detail description.

The accompanying drawings illustrate the invention.

Figure 1 is a side elevation of the wrench in action on a cylindrical body of one di- Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed August 5, 1912.

Patented Feb. 10, 1914.

Serial No. 713,467.

ameter. The dotted lines indicate the position of parts when the wrench is adjusted for a cylindrical body of considerably less diameter. Fig. 2 is a plan on reduced scale of the chain wrench viewed from the top of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a broken axial section of the wrench in the scale of Fig. 1, on line :0 Fig. 2, omitting a portion of the chain and showing in dotted lines the position of parts when the chain is loosened. Fig. 4 is a sectional elevation from line 02*, Figs. 1, 2 and 3, looking toward the shoe. Fig. 5 is an enlarged view of the shoe detached looking from the right in Fig. 1. Fig. '6 is an analogous view of the shoe, from the side opposite that shown in Fig. 5. Fig. 7 is a view in the scale of Figs. 1, 3 and 4: of interchangeable bits for different diameters of pipe. in Figs. 1, 2 and 3, the handle is broken to contract the view.

The lever 1 is provided with an aperture 2, dividing the lever into a long arm or handle 3 and a short arm 4:. The extremity of the short arm is rounded at 5 forming the knob of a socket connection later described.

6 is a shoe forked at both ends 7 and 8, the forward fork 8 being provided with aperture 9 for receiving pin 10 whereby the chain 11 is secured to the said shoe. Between the prongs of the fork 7 is formed the rounded socket 12 constituting a seat in which the knob 5 of lever 1 fits.

The latch spring 13 made of heavy resilient metal is rounded at 14 and latches the knob 5 of the lever into the socket 12. The latch spring is held in place on the shoe by cap screw 15 threaded into the shoe at 16, Fig. 3. The latch spring is also secured against transverse motion on the shoe by buttresses 17 Figs. 2 and 5. The bit 18 fits into seat 19 in the shoe 6 and is provided with a hole 20, Fig. 3, into which the tip of the cap screw 15 fits thus holding the bit firmly on said seat. The bearing faces a and 1), formed on the shoe 6 and located on either side of bit 18 have previously been referred to as the toe and heel of the shoe respectively. As stated the toe and heel are to prevent the bit of the shoe from cutting the pipe more than a desired amount, while the contour of the shoe between said toe and heel will readily cause the bit to bite the pipe on the forward stroke of the wrench.

When a pipe or other round piece is in position across the toe and heel of shoe 6 the bit 18 has a position such that its cutting edge 0 projects into the pipe arc (la definite amount. If the edge 0 projects into this are by a substantially greater amount the pipe might be severely out, which is undesirable, While if said edge projects into the arc by an amount substantially smaller it will not cut the pipe enough to secure a grip and the wrench will slip on the pipe. Since the location of the pipe arc, and therefore the desirable location of the edge 0, with respect to the toe and heel, is different for stock of different diameters, the wrench is provided with a set of interchangeable bits similar to 18 but of varying length 6 (shown in Fig. 7) each bit being best suited for handling stock of a particular diameter. Connected to the fork 8 of the shoe 6 is one extremity of chain 11, the other extremity ofsaid chain being connected by pin 21 to the lower extremity of the link 22. Those parts of the link 22 which embrace lever 1 are provided with a series of apertures 23 which may be registered with aperture 2 of the lever. When in such registering position the links are secured to the lever by the pin 24 passed through apertures 2 and 23.

The mode of operating the wrench is as follows: The correct bit, according to the diameter of the pipe handled,.hav1ng been seated under the screw 15, pin 21 is passed through an aperture 23, choosing one of the apertures near pin 21, if a small pipe is being handled. Before application to the pipe the shoe (Sis stripped ofi' the knob 5, so that the chain and shoe hang loosely from the lever. The said chain and shoe are now swung around the pipe, and the shoe is pressed and snapped onto knob 5, the latch spring 13 being sufliciently resilient to permit such snapping. The lever 1 is now pushed in a direction indicated by the arrow in Fig. 1, causing the bit 18 to cut into the metal of the pipe and permitting of the toe a and heel b to bear on same. In this condition any further force applied to the lever handle will result in drawing the chain taut about the pipe and the friction thus produced, together with the bite of the bit, affords a practically perfect grip and insures the turning of the pipe without danger of crushing the same.

After the pipe is turned through the desired arc the wrench may be returned by a ratchet motion to its initial position. This ratchet action is facilitated by having the bit mounted so that angle 25, between the bit and the rear portion of the pipe face, is small; in which case edge 0 will slide over the pipe without cutting it during the return motion, but will cut it immediately on the forward motion of the lever. When the return stroke is started the chain will automatically loosen, thus relieving the friction of same on the pipe. It will be noticed that the forward and backward motion of the lever, and the change from one to the other are secured by merely rocking the lever, it being unnecessary to handle any other parts. To withdraw the wrench from the pipe the knob 5 is pulled out of the latch socket against the action of spring 13.

It is understood that in case a wide bit is used for a pipe of small diameter such as is indicated in the dotted lines in Fig. 1 the bit will dig into the periphery of the smaller pipe and turn the same, although the toe of the shoe will not contact with the pipe, but the wrench will have a bit point bearing in addition to the bearing Z) and the chain. In such case, the wrench operates with as good eifect to turn the pipe as in the case hereinbefore described. Consequently the effect of the tool so far as turning the pipe is concerned is not limited to the interchangeable bits but by supplying the tool with a broad bit so as to support the shoe by the heel and the bit alone in every instance the wrench is eiiicient to turn various sizesof pipe without any change of bit.

1. A chain wrench comprising a lever; links having apertures; a pin adjustably connecting the links with the lever; a chain connected to the links; a shoe having a heel and a toe to rest on the work to be turned and having a bit seat between the heel and toe and being connected with the chain and having a seat for the end of the lever; and a spring latch to hold the lever in the seat.

2. A chain wrench comprising a lever; links having apertures; a pin adjustably connecting the links with the lever; a chain connected to the links; a shoe having a heel and a toe to rest on the work to be turned. and having a bit seat between the heel and toe and being connected with the chain and having a seat for the end of the lever; a spring latch to hold the lever in the seat; and a screw to detachably hold the bit in its seat.

3. The combination with the chain and lever of a shoe on the end of the chain to seat one end of the lever; and a spring to hold such lever in the seat.

4(- A chain wrench comprising a lever, a chain connected to said lever, a shoe con nected to said chain, said shoe having a seat whereby said lever and shoe are adapted to be normally connected and disconnected in applying the wrench to its work, and a spring adapted to hold said lever onto the In testimony whereof, I have hereunto seat of said shoe. set my hand at Los Angeles, California,

5. In combination, a lever, a chain atthis 26th day of July, 1912.

cached to said lever, and a shoe attached to WILLIAM H. ONEIL.

said chain, said shoe having means includ- In presence of ing a spring for detachably connecting said JAMES R. TOWNSEND,

shoe to the end of said lever. ROBERT A. STEPS.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents.

Washington, D. C. 

